NASA says a huge asteroid will zip past Earth today - how and when to watch the passing

A ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid is set to fly past Earth this morning, NASA has revealed.

The asteroid, dubbed 52768 (1998 OR2), is estimated to measure between 1.8km - 4.1km in diameter.

At the higher end of that estimate, it suggests the asteroid could be up to five times as big as the world’s biggest building, the Burj Khalifa!

According to NASA, the space rock will make its closest approach to Earth at around 10:56 BST today, at which point it will be around 3.9 million miles from Earth.

While this might sound far, it’s actually classed as a ‘close approach’ by NASA.

Here’s everything you need to know about today’s asteroid passing, including how to watch it.

What time will the asteroid pass Earth?

The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at around 10:56 BST today, at which point it will be around 3.9 million miles from Earth.

The asteroid is estimated to measure between 1.8km - 4.1km in diameter (Virtual Telescope Project)

How can you watch the passing live?

While scientists from The Virtual Telescope Project in Rome were due to host an online public viewing of this morning’s passing, unfortunately this has been postponed due to cloud coverage.

They tweeted: “Our live feed sharing asteroid #1998OR2 live has been rescheduled because of cloudy weather. New date/time: 29 Apr.2020, 18:30 UTC.”

However, if you’d like to learn more about the asteroid ahead of this morning’s passing, you can watch a video hosted by Slooh last night here.

Is there a chance the asteroid could hit Earth?

Thankfully, the chances of the huge asteroid colliding with Earth are extremely low.

However, NASA hasn’t written off the chances of an asteroid collision in the near future.

NASA discovers around 30 new ‘near-Earth objects’ (NEOs) every week, and at the start of 2019 had discovered a total of more than 19,000 objects.

This is what would happen if an Asteroid hit earth

However, the space agency has warned its NEO catalogue isn’t complete, meaning an unpredicted impact could occur at ‘any time.’

NASA explained: “Experts estimate that an impact of an object the size of the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 – approximately 55 feet (17 meters) in size – takes place once or twice a century.

“Impacts of larger objects are expected to be far less frequent (on the scale of centuries to millennia).

“However, given the current incompleteness of the NEO catalogue, an unpredicted impact – such as the Chelyabinsk event – could occur at any time.”